Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi national , now suspect for New York subway bomb who was inspired by Isis Christmas attacks'

A man with a pipe bomb strapped to his body set off an explosion at one of New York’s busiest commuter hubs, leaving five people injured in an Isis-inspired attack.

Akayed Ullah, a 27-year-old Bangladeshi national who is thought to have lived in the US since 2011, triggered a stampede during the morning rush hour as his homemade bomb detonated in a busy underpass.

With Ullah striking at rush hour just two weeks before Christmas, it seemed that commuters and shoppers’ worst fears had been confirmed.

He had been licensed to drive a livery cab between 2012 and 2015, according to law enforcement officials and NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission.

Bangladesh's government condemned the attack.

The terrorist attack occurred less than two months after an Uzbek immigrant killed eight people by speeding a rental truck down a New York City bike path, in an attack for which Islamic State claimed responsibility.

He was pictured moments after the apparent attempted suicide attack crumpled in a heap with severe burns and lacerations to his torso and was later taken to hospital and placed under arrest.

Ullah reportedly told investigators that he was avenging attacks on the Islamic State group and chose the location by its Christmas posters.

The 27-year-old recalled a Christmas attack in Europe in 2016 and said he was also retaliating for US airstrikes on IS in Syria, law enforcement officials told the New York Times.

The mention of Christmas as a motive drew comparisons to Europe, where an Isis-inspired attacker plowed a truck into a Berlin Christmas market last year, killing 12 people.

Mr. Ullah had attached the pipe bomb to himself with a “combination of Velcro and zip ties,” said James P. O’Neill, the commissioner of the New York Police Department. 

CCTV footage shows the bomber walking down a tunnel armed with a five-inch metal pipe bomb and battery pack strapped to his body before a flash of smoke fills the walkway.

“There was a stampede up the stairs to get out,” said Diego Fernandez, one of the commuters at Port Authority. “Everybody was scared and running and shouting.”

Alicja Wlodkowski, a Pennsylvania resident in New York for the day, was sitting in a restaurant in the bus terminal building at the time.

“Suddenly, I saw a group of people, like six people, running. A woman fell.

No one even went to stop and help her because the panic was so scary.”

Sources close to the investigation said Ullah first arrived in the country from Bangladesh on an F-4 visa, available to those with family in the US, around seven years ago.

Bangladesh is not one of the countries covered in US’s travel ban of six predominantly Muslim countries.

A statement on behalf of the family sent by the New York Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said they were "deeply saddened" by the attack but also "outraged by the way we have been targeted by law enforcement, including a teenage relative of the suspect who was pulled from class and questioned in his school without a parent guardian or attorney."

Suspect had no criminal record 

Several US officials familiar with the investigation have told news sources that at this point there was no information indicating Ullah was previously known to any American spy or law enforcement agency for any connection to militants or terrorism.

An authoritative government source confirmed that Ullah arrived in the US seven years ago on a visa for applicants with family members already in the country.

Ullah is from the Bangladeshi city of Chittagong and is a US resident, the country's police chief. He had no criminal record there and last visited Bangladesh on September 8, the chief said.

The weapon was a pipe bomb that was attached to the suspect, police said. New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo told CNN the explosive in the pipe ignited, but the pipe itself did not explode.

"So he wound up hurting himself, several others in the vicinity." He said the attacker obtained information on how to make a bomb from the internet.

Attacker was 'motivated  by Israel'

A pro-Islamic State media group, Maqdisi Media, portrayed the attempted terror attack as a response to US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last week, according to the SITE Intelligence Group which tracks and analyses online activity by extremist groups.

However, US network CNN reported that Ullah told investigators he was motivated by recent Israeli actions in Gaza. Over the weekend, Israeli authorities said they had destroyed a tunnel between Gaza and Israel - a blow to Hamas, the Palestinian militant group which controls the Gaza strip. 

Intelligence agencies investigating suspect

A thorough background investigation into Akayed Ullah is being conducted by the Joint Terrorism Task Force, Commissioner O'Neill said.